


proelium

by halcyonwords



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Episode: s11e10 My Struggle IV, Post-Season/Series 11, The X-Files Revival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 04:05:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14417307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halcyonwords/pseuds/halcyonwords
Summary: My take on what happened after the camera panned off and ended. Fixing all of CC's mistakes and reuniting a family.





	proelium

He waits and he waits. Drifting, floating. The sounds of the waves crash against the dock, lights from passing by boats and planes up ahead illuminate his surroundings every now and again. In a way, it’s almost peaceful. Could lull him to sleep. If it weren’t for the fact his clothes clung to him, head pounding from a bullet wound, and his ‘ dead creator ’ mere meters away.

He can’t bring himself to look at the dead body, focuses his attention on the sights and sounds around him. More importantly, his birth parents. If he can still even call them that. He was nothing to them, nothing more than an experiment. Who was he kidding? Who was he to think he’d be anything more than some freak show. He’d heard the words fall from his birth mother’s mouth and it’d cut through him deeper than any bullet or knife ever had.

He wanted the chance to get to know them more than anything. I wish I could get to know you better. Had seen the weary smile that’d been on her face before he’d walked off and driven away.

What broke him even more, was the distinct murmurs between Mulder and Dana. It didn’t take him long to figure out what she was insinuating, and his heart dropped to his stomach. She was pregnant. He’d be happy for her, he was happy for her. She and Mulder deserved some peace, some happiness. But it felt as though he was being replaced, shoved into a box and locked away somewhere just like an experiment.

He was created by science, for science.

And yet, it felt as though that didn’t matter. Because after all he’d lost, they were the only two people that didn’t want to hurt him, that genuinely wanted him around. Even if they weren’t safe around him, they still wanted him and seemed to love him. They put their lives on the line for him, put the child currently growing inside Dana’s stomach life on the line. That mattered to him. Keeping them safe was what kept him going — fighting. But now. Not that it was all over. Now that he was free for however long, he had nowhere to go. His parents were dead, his birth mother moving on and starting again. Having a child out of love, never considering giving them up because they’d be safe — they wouldn’t be a monster like him.

God, he hopes his future sibling would never turn out to ever be like him.

He doesn’t know if he’s been crying or whether the water has been in his eyes too long. But the rims of his lids burn when he emerges from the water. He takes a deep breath, swallowing the lump in his throat as he looks up at the night sky. The speckled constellation of stars always soothed him, could seem to fix anything he was feeling inside. But not tonight. Tonight it was just as painful. If not more.

He thinks Dana and Mulder are gone. Believing their son — their experiment, to be dead. It wasn’t hard for him, to play off dying, being dead. It was better that way. They could live out a happier, more peaceful life. Have the family they’ve always wanted without the mess and destruction that would’ve come with raising him.

He tries not to think too hard about it as he pulls himself up the pillar to the dock. Knuckles scratch the concrete as he pulls himself up. Water dripping everywhere as he begins to shiver from the cold air. Hands come to his arms as he rubs them up and down, trying to create some sort of friction; warmth. It’s then his head lifts and he’s face to face with his birth mother and who he desperately wanted to be his birth father.

They’re in a tight embrace, tears staining Dana’s cheeks as she clutches onto Mulder like her life depends on it. Her gaze lands on William, and he can see everything that runs through her head in her eyes, all the pure shock and confusion.

“W - william.” It comes out so hoarse, barely audible. But it’s enough for Mulder to pull back and look down at her, his sight soon following hers to find William standing before them.

William’s gaze falters, another lump forming in the middle of his throat as he refrains from allowing his lips to chatter from the cold starting to circulate through his body.

“How — how is this…” Mulder’s head shakes, hands still gripping Dana as he stares at William.

Mulder had watched the smoking man put a bullet through William’s head, had watched his son fall back into the ocean. How was it possible the boy was standing before them very much alive? Nobody could survive such a thing… Could they?

“I think you know how.” William’s gaze lifts as he swallows the lump in his throat.

“But I mean, you were — you were shot in the head!” It’s taking Mulder some time to process, the image of William being shot and falling still picture perfect in his head.

“It wasn’t hard.. to make it seem like I was dying. I’ve done it before.” He shrugs, arms coming to wrap around himself as the cold starts to run through his body.

“The morgue.” Mulder lets slip, brows furrowed as he thinks back to first seeing William laying in the body bag back in his room. William had created the scene, projected it into their minds to ensure he’d be kept safe.

William nods, head tipped down and gaze focused on the ground.

This isn’t what he wanted, to face them. For them to know he was alive. It was better for everyone if they thought him to be dead. Life would be more peaceful, quieter. He only ever brought chaos with him.

Dana couldn’t help herself by this point, her body moving away from Mulder’s to envelop William in a tight embrace. It startles him at first, so much so that he stumbles back as his arms fly out to his sides . He casts a glance down at the petite redhead who’s face is buried into his chest , and despite still being soaked, he can feel her tears against him.

“I thought — I though you were…” She chokes the words out, arms squeezing him when she can’t manage to get her thoughts out.

She’s dreamed about this moment since the day she gave him up. Dreamed of holding him in her arms. The circumstances could be better, but she wouldn’t trade it. Wouldn’t trade any of it. Her son, her baby boy, he was alive, and that’s all that mattered.

William doesn’t reciprocate the hug, he stands still with arms hovering in the air. He’s unsure what to do, how to act. Dana’s words are still fresh in his mind. The word experiment echoing and bouncing off each side of his skull. How could she say such things? Think such things? He thought he’d been more to her — thought they shared something extraordinary between them.

“Oh, William…” Dana’s chest rises and falls, her body pulling back as she keeps her hands on his arms. The front of her is dampened, though she doesn’t care, even if a slight chill is starting to run through her. It didn’t matter, because her heart was filled with such warmth from her son standing before her.

She looks up at him, eyes watery and lips stretching to a smile as she takes him in properly for the first time. She’d only ever seen him on screens, seen his deceased form in a body bag, or a blurred figure in her head.

His eyes are blue, though his pupils are dilated, almost drowning it out. But she feels as though she’s looking into a mirror. His dark shaggy hair sticks to his pale complexion that makes her see a young Mulder.

Her smile cracks bigger, hand lifting to cup his cheek as her chest rises. He was so much different from the last time she’d held him in her arms and looked down at him. He was so much taller and lankier, so much like Mulder.

“I — I should go.” William breaks the silence, a lump forming in his throat as he shifts uncomfortably in Dana’s grip. He can’t look at her, merely shrugs out of her embrace to move past her. But Dana grips his arm again, Mulder quickly stepping before them and blocking his way.

“What? No. No you can’t go — we just… You’re alive.” She breathes it out, head shaking in the slightest, brows furrowing as she meets William’s gaze.

“That doesn’t change anything. You’re not safe around me, neither of you are.” He fixates his gaze on Mulder, hoping almost pleading for the man to move out of his way.

“You’re safe now, William. The smoking man… He’s dead. He can’t hurt you anymore, he can’t come after you. Nobody is after you anymore.” Mulder pleads, taking a tentative step towards the boy.

“I’m not your son. I’m nothing to you. To either of you.”

Mulder almost freezes, heart torn in too many places. There’s a lot of information running through his head, a lot of images of tonight making his head spin that he doesn’t know how to properly process it all.

“Don’t say that.” Dana’s face almost crumbles, her heart aching as tears continue to blur her vision and slip down the frame of her cheeks. She grips William’s arm tighter, tries to pull the boy to her in order for him to look at her.

He does, William turns, finally taking in Dana as he swallows the lump in his throat, anger beginning to bubble beneath his flesh. “But it’s true! I’m nothing to you. I’m nothing more than an experiment, right?”

Something hits her hard, expression softening as the pounding of her heart begins to ring in her ears, her grip on William loosening.

“You… you heard that?”

William swallows another lump, hand moving to his head as his fingertip scratches his forehead. He shifts his gaze to Dana, can see the evident pain in her eyes and it causes a panging in his own chest.

“I didn’t… I didn’t mean what I said.” Her voice cracks at first, lips pulling together and head shaking. “It was my way of… Of trying to process everything, trying to process that you were dead and come to terms with everything. But I… I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean any of it, William.” She swallows a lump in her throat, sniffling as her gaze drops from William.

Truth was, everything she’d said had been a way to calm Mulder down. To calm her own self down. How was one supposed to mourn their own child? She’d barely properly mourned over giving him up sixteen years ago, how was she now supposed to mourn him after just having found him?

She couldn’t fall into a depression, couldn’t allow Mulder to slip back into past habits. They had a new future to plan for, a child on the way that needed two healthy and stable parents. (Especially with the age she was at and all the complications that could come with it.) She knew if she really allowed herself to feel or think about such things, to really process it all, she’s sure she wouldn’t get through this pregnancy. That she’d crumble and fall into pieces, unsure if she’d ever be able to get back up.

Her fingers grip William’s arm, head lifting to find his gaze and she almost pleads with him to believe her.

“You have to believe me. You’re more than an experiment, you’re so much more than that.” Her words come out a little hoarse, another lump forming in her throat that has Mulder stepping up behind her, a hand coming to the middle of her back.

William still doesn’t know what to say, simply drops his gaze from the pair. He was trying to comprehend all her words and their reasoning, he really wanted to believe her. Wanted to believe he wasn’t some monster made from a substance that could do more harm than good. He wanted to believe that his mere existence had more to it than simply being created for an experiment.

“I want to believe you.” His brows pull together, head continuing to thump that he tears his arm away from Dana’s grip, palm coming to his head as lids fall closed.

Mulder’s hand drops from Dana’s lower back, feet moving him a few steps towards William as his hand soon comes to rest atop of his shoulder. “We should get that head of yours checked out.”

“What? No — no we can’t.” He shakes his head a little too fast that it causes him to wince. “I can’t go to a hospital, they’ll — The Government.” William starts to panic, the pain in his head only continuing to grow worse and he backs up from each of them, both their hands dropping from his body.

“I’ll be fine. I can fix it like I did last time.” Though last time didn’t involve a real bullet piercing through his flesh.

“I can check you out. Let me check you out, I’m a medical doctor. I’m qualified.” Dana’s quick to speak up, the fear of him running off and never being seen again starting to course through her.

“She’s more than qualified.” Mulder nods, looking between Dana and William.

William’s chest rises, his options very low.

He couldn’t go to a hospital for one reason, and one reason only. He’d been shot through the head, he should be dead. He couldn’t deal with all the questions, the tests. How the media would be alerted, soon the government. And before he knows it, all he’s been running from, all that’d happen to night would’ve been for nothing, an absolute waste. He’d be poked and prodded before sunrise.

His only other option would be to run off again, disguise himself and steal supplies from hospitals and stitch himself up. But with how his head was, he wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to last projecting visions. He was also clueless on how to stitch up or remove a bullet wound.

So, his only other option…

“Fine.” It comes out with more frustration than anticipated as he lifts his head to look between Dana and Mulder. “You can check me out. But then I’m going.”


End file.
